SINNOH STORIES
THE LEGEND OF VOLKNER
Chapter 16: For Sinnoh

"She will be returned to her original time," Celebi stated. "Only the three who currently know her story will remember her. I'm sorry."

"What?" Gardenia choked out. "Forget that!"

She moved toward the door, opening it and beginning to scream. "Hey, we need a fuckin' crash cart here guys, c'mon, someone, help her out, C'MON, SOMEONE!"

But there was no response. Gardenia screamed for help, screamed 'till her lungs seemed to deflate, but it was as if she and the others were invisible to the outside world. The doctors and nurses strolled on by, paying no mind to the sweating, red-faced girl in the doorway. Finally, Gardenia gave up, and turned back inside.

She was met with the sight of a stunned Jasmine, first off. The girl merely stood in the corner, her face a pale shade as if the very life had been drained out of her as well. Gardenia shrugged off this mental comparison; she didn't need any more thoughts of loss of life.

Volkner now sat up, staring around the room in an obvious confusion. His blue eyes seemed to echo a peculiar sense of knowing. He looked down to see the sight Gardenia focused upon next: the collapsed form of Lisa Cohen, and the leafy green Pokemon called Celebi floating above it.

"I'm sorry. I can't let you. She has no information in this time: she is a face that will never be identified. For her to die with you three around will mean a certain holdup in the plans; these plans that she sacrificed her life to continue."

Celebi floated down toward Lisa, and placed a hand on her body. The two of them began to glow a bright blue, Lisa lifting up slightly.

"Biii!"

The two of them were enveloped by a swirling blue mass of energy and then disappeared.


two days later

The three of them stood outside of Veilstone City, each with solemn looks on their faces. Volkner had gotten the situation explained to him: since that moment, he had been in some sort of state of shock, where he refused to speak. Gardenia found this not surprising in the least.

"I suppose we don't have much of a choice now, do we?" Gardenia asked. "We're all in this together now."

Volkner allowed himself a nod. Gardenia saw fierceness in his blue eyes, and she allowed herself a crooked smile.

Jasmine spoke, stepping forward. "Yes. For Lisa."

She extended a hand forward.

Gardenia placed her own on top of Jasmine's. "For Lisa."

Volkner's own hand seemed to hesitate, but it sent itself forward, resting on top of the others. He spoke for the first time since yesterday, his hands clenching around the other two's, one in each. "Listen, you two. I could give less of a damn about her. This is not for her. This is for Sinnoh. This is for the world of the future. Fuck, the world sucks now, but with Cyrus at its head, it would suck even more. So this is for the world. I could give less of a damn about this future chick who had a crush on a future me."

Gardenia felt a pang of anger, her face flushing a bright red. She glared angrily at him. But she knew they were the best words that she was going to get. She let loose a formidable sigh, and eyed the cross they had nailed into the ground. It remained markless. They had not given it a name, nor a corpse to rest beneath it.

She knew that both sides were right. They were in this too far now to turn back - they could no longer walk away without risking their conscience and possibly other lives. But this wasn't just for this woman from the future. This was for the world.

This was for Sinnoh.

Volkner crossed his gloved hands against his chest, pressing both black jacket and green t-shirt against its thin, bony frame. He turned his head to the side, glancing out into the distance.

Gardenia decided it would be best to speak up as the leader of their ragtag group. "Alright. So we need to come up with a plan. Volkner, do you still have Cyrus registered on your cell?"

Volkner nodded slowly.

"Call him then."

Volkner took out his cell phone, pressed a few numbers, and pressed the device against his ear.

Cyrus stopped in the middle of his path, reaching into his pocket. "Forgive me, Mars. Seems I've got a call."

Mars nodded swiftly, her red hair bouncing. "Of course."

Cyrus flipped his phone open, and pressed it against his ear. "Who might this be?"

"Volkner," the voice said.

Cyrus let a thin smile cross his lips. So Volkner had come crawling back to life so soon. He supposed he should have expected it, but it still surprised him a bit. What surprised him more than anything was the fact that Volkner was calling in the first place: after their barfight-esque brawl, he had never expected to hear from him again. "Volkner. How can I help you?"

There was quiet for a moment. Then Volkner spoke up again, his voice filled with an obvious amount of annoyance. "I want to meet up with you. You want to know why?"

"Why?"

"Because nunya. Will we meet or not, Cyrus?"

Cyrus's smile widened. Same old, same old. "Your attitude is less than desirable, Volkner. You hold a lot of repressed anger toward the world. With what you've been through, that's reasonable."

"Don't even try the fuckin' sales pitch, Cyrus," Volkner groaned.

"...But with the Galactic Gang, you could use that anger. That hatred toward the current world: me and you could mold it into a desirable place."

"What the hell did I just say? Fuckin' A, Cyrus."

Cyrus's smile faded. "I'm sorry, Volkner, unless you plan on joining with me, I'm too busy for a reunion of old friends." Cyrus removed the phone from his ear, and prepared to flip it shut. Then he heard it.

"I do want to join you. I just don't want the sales pitch, dumbfuck. You've given it to me before."

Cyrus pressed the phone against his ear again. "Where would you like to meet, then?"

Volkner was silent for a moment, probably thinking about it, before speaking. "Sendoff Spring. It's a route-"

"I know where Sendoff Spring is, 'dumbfuck'," Cyrus mused. "Fine. Good choice. We can be uninterrupted there. Wait there. I'll be there in three hours."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

four hours later

'One would expect Cyrus to be a little more punctual than this,' Volkner mused mentally. His ETA had been about an hour ago. He tapped his foot on the rocky ground impatiently. The area around them was humid. Volkner was sweating profusely. But he could care less about that - he was more worried about getting to Cyrus and then getting the hell out of dodge.

Gardenia and Jasmine were in hiding, but close by. He supposed it was for the best. He didn't want them interfering in this fight. He wasn't concerned for their safety or anything, he was just concerned that they might get in his way. People tended to do that in more recent days. Get in his way, fuck up the plans he had made for himself.

Just as he was going on a mental tangent on the subject, two faces stepped in sight. The familiar, smiling face of Cyrus and a less familiar, but still recognizable face with red hair hiding the eyes: Marsha, also known as Mars.

"It's been a while, Volkner," Cyrus said. "I've honestly missed you a bit."

Volkner jumped, slamming his fist forward. His punch missed, Cyrus moving his head to the side. Volkner had lost his element of surprise and this meant this wasn't going to be an easy brawl. Cyrus thrust his arm forward, delivering a firm punch toward Volkner's gut, winding him. But Volkner wasn't going to let that stop him. He pulled up his knee, pushing it into Cyrus's stomach, allowing both of them some time to fall back and recover.

Mars, in the mean time, sat back with a bemused smile. "Tag me if need be, Cyrus."

Cyrus didn't respond to her, instead moving toward Volkner again. He aimed an uppercut toward Volkner's chin, but Volkner hopped back to dodge it, causing Cyrus to stumble out of balance. He used this opportunity to punch Cyrus directly in the nose. Cyrus purposefully lowered his head, taking it in the forehead instead and causing Volkner to feel a pang of pain, drawing his hand back.

"Heh, not half bad, Cyrus! But you're gonna have to do better than that!"

"Shut up, Volkner! I knew you weren't telling the truth - I don't have time for distractions like you! I'm going to take you out, here and now!"

Cyrus ran forward, his elbow extended. He drove it into Volkner's chest, sending Volkner toppling backward. He took the opportunity, falling with him, slamming his fist into Volkner's face. Volkner felt another rush of pain, cartilage giving way. Blood spurted out of his nose, coming into his mouth, but he ignored it. He ignored the pain now going throughout him in steady pulsations. He moved all his strength into his arms and flipped Cyrus over, crashing their foreheads together. Then he rolled off of him and the two of them lay there, recovering from the sudden head injury.

Cyrus recovered first. He leaped up to his feet, slamming his foot downward toward Volkner's gut. Volkner rolled over to dodge it, and allowed a second kick to come close - only to grab Cyrus's leg with all of his strength and feel him fall. Volkner leaped up to his feet only to fall down again, but on purpose, delivering a firm drive into Cyrus' stomach with his elbow.

"GUH- m-ma...mars..."

Volkner looked up to Mars, who grinned from ear to ear. She seemed all to eager to join into the brawl.

Suddenly, the tension in the area was directed toward an odd galloping sound coming from a short distance. Footfall hitting the ground in a steady rhythm was a peculiar, unnatural sound in these barren areas. They were mostly inhabited by slow Pokemon, Volkner had observed - Graveler, Golem, and of course the flying types who had made nests, like Staravia. This was fast.

The source was revealed. Stopping in front of Volkner and turning around to face Mars was a Luxray, waving its tail behind it, letting loose a low, guttural growl. Volkner stood up, allowing himself a grin. Carefully, he moved one arm up and wiped away the blood from his mouth, avoiding touching his nose. He imagined it was tender to the touch.

"I take it you're on my side, Luxray?" Volkner asked, recalling the story Gardenia had told him of the Luxio that had, along with Chuseph, carried him to the hospital. He had gotten some conflicted emotions about this, but he supposed now was not the time to doubt things. He would wonder just what the hell was going on later.

"...Grrr... Lux! Luxxxx!"

"I'll take that as a yes."

Marsha nodded to Volkner. "Alright, fine! You want a battle, you have a battle!"

"I wouldn't worry about Volkner," Jasmine's voice interfered.

"Definitely not. I think ya got other problems, girly. Volkner, take care'a Cyrus. Tie 'im up with yer belt or somethin'. We'll render this girly powerless, and off to Veilstone PD we go."

Volkner nodded. He slipped off his belt, moving toward Cyrus and purposefully driving his knee into his stomach, pinning him down. He tightly looped his belt around Cyrus's arms, and nodded toward Luxray. "Alright, Luxray. Get him onto your back."

"Stop it!" Mars cried, her eyes wide. She realized just how badly this was going. "You don't have charges on him anyway! He's done nothing wrong!"

"I'd beg to differ," Jasmine said. "Veilstone Police Department takes assault charges pretty serious, I hear."

"But he was provoked!"

"Two witnesses, and the victim can all state otherwise."

Mars scowled. She removed a Pokeball from her belt, releasing a Bronzor: it instantly let loose a forceful confusion blast. Gardenia, Jasmine and Volkner were all sent sprawling backward, and by the time they got up again, Mars was running. Fast.

"Gardenia! Jasmine! Stay here with Cyrus!"

Volkner fell onto Luxray's back, nodding. "Sorry if I'm any heavy. But let's go! We need to chase her!"

On cue with Volkner's words, Luxray dashed off. Volkner felt the wind rush around him, and he let loose a cry of excitement, partially from the adrenaline rush in his veins, partially from simple excitement of the chase. He saw Mars dive behind a rather nicely sized rock just as Luxray was closing in. He was forced to leap over, making Volkner hold on tight to the Pokemon's fur. She used the time it took for Luxray to turn to jump on top of this rock, using it as leverage to get to higher ground.

Luxray followed suit, with two simple jumps. Mars continued to run, but it was of no avail: within a few minutes, Volkner had his hand on her shirt, holding her back. He leaped off Luxray, forcing his knee into her back, pinning her down to the ground. He finally removed his jacket and tied its arms tight around her wrists, binding them together.

"Jesus H. Christ," he murmured. "Did you really think you could get away from a hundred pound electric lion? Oh, an a Luxray."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The Veilstone Police Department took one look at the bloody form of Volkner, took into mind that it was the word of three versus the word of two, and nodded to him. They would keep these two in a cell 'till a trial date, but they had best keep in the city until then, if they wanted to win the case.

They had no such intentions. They knew that this was just a stall, to prevent Cyrus from progressing any further while they thought up a more active Galactic-resistance system. It hadn't even been the original plan.

"You know, you could have gotten killed out there," Gardenia chided. "I'm pissed. We could'a gotten him for so much more than just assault, if you'd GONE BY THE PLAN and tried to leak some sort of important detail out of him."

"Sorry," Volkner admitted. "I just saw his ugly mug and felt it needed a bit of rearranging."

Outside, Luxray was waiting for Volkner. The Pokemon nudged his backpack, and oddly enough, Volkner understood. He removed a Pokeball from it, pressed the center switch, and a beam of red light sucked Luxray in. There was no struggle. He clipped the Pokemon's ball to his belt, sighing.

At least the lummox accepts his role as a tool, Volkner thought.

Volkner was in the hospital for about three days. The fact that he was back just a day after his initial release amazed hospital staff - either hospitals attracted this boy, or he attracted hospitals. Either way, he was probably going to get himself killed soon if he kept up this schedule, doctors mused.

Finally, the group of three stood outside the gates of Veilstone City.

"Ten more days 'til Cyrus's trial. I guess we got some good time. Still wish ya would have followed the goddamn plan, though."

Volkner grinned with amusement. "As if."

Well, here we go! Chapter 16 of Sinnooh Stories - The Legend of Volkner!

On a side note, I think my brain is going to start leaking out of my ears now. I've updated three out of my four projects this weekend - one of them twice.

Jesus Christ, it was fun, though.

Enjoy!